1. INTRODUCTION

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is one of our closest
neighbor galaxies at a distance of ~ 50 kpc. The Sagitarrius dwarf is
closer at ~ 24 kpc, but its contrast with respect to the Milky
Way foreground stars is so low that it was discovered only about a
decade ago. The LMC is therefore the closest, big, easily observable
galaxy from our vantage point in the Milky Way. As such, it has become
a benchmark for studies on various topics. It is of fundamental
importance for studies of stellar populations and the interstellar
medium (ISM), it is being used to study the presence of dark objects
in the Galactic Halo through microlensing (e.g.,
Alcock et al. 2000a),
and it plays a key role in determinations of the cosmological distance
scale (e.g.,
Freedman et al. 2001).
For all these applications it is
important to have an understanding of the structure and kinematics of
the LMC. This is the topic of the present review. For
information on other aspects of the LMC, the reader is referred to the book by
Westerlund (1997).
The book by
van den Bergh (2000)
discusses more generally how the properties of the LMC compare to those
of other galaxies in the Local Group.